Baylor’s Kat Ludlow and West Virginia’s Frances Silva are two of 30 candidates for the 2013 Senior CLASS Award for women’s soccer.

A native of Colleyville, Texas, Ludlow has made her mark not only on the field, but in the classroom. Ludlow was chosen to the Big 12 All-Tournament Team, Second Team NSCAA All-Central Region, First Team Academic All-Big 12 and Second Team All-Big 12 in 2012. The senior defender started and played in all 25 of the Bears’ matches last season.

In her junior season Silva was chosen to the All-Big 12 Second Team, Academic All-Big 12 Team, NSCAA Scholar All-East Region Third Team and garnered multiple national player of the week honors from various media outlets. Silva recorded multiple game-winning goals in 2012, including the winning score in the Mountaineers win over No. 1 Stanford.

An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievments in four areas of excellence: classroom, character, community and competition.

The list of 30 women’s soccer candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists in early October, and those 10 names will then be placed on the official ballot for a nationwide vote involving media, coaches and fans. The winner will be announced at the 2013 Women’s College Cup in December in Cary, N.C.